23 February 2022 07:55 am Views - 147
By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana
Whilst stating that the latest developments in Ukraine will adversely affect Sri Lanka, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa should make a statement on the situation, while action should be taken to settle payments for the fuel shipments that have already arrived.
“Sri Lanka will be affected adversely as the price of oil is set to increase up to USD 115. The shipments that have already arrived in Colombo had been purchased at the old prices. Therefore it is essential to settle these payments. We can think of new orders later. Also Sri Lanka is not going to get adequate stocks of LNG as Europe had ordered large stocks from Qatar following the situation in Ukraine. This will affect our country as well, as we also purchase fuel from Qatar,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said. Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella who also joined in the discussion said Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa has not made any statement with regard to the financial crisis since December last year. “We therefore ask the Finance Minister to make a statement on the current economic issues,” he said.